Plusnet - We'll do you!!!!

After some 2 years of being with PlusNet I had to raise a fault on 7th Feb 2016 as my upload speed was below the Min FTTC A Low range, this is still on going some 13 weeks later.

After Openreach visits on 11th, 21st & 28th of April all they managed to do was drop my download speed from 49Mbps to it's current level 34.8Mbps on an 80/20 service.

After complaining to Andy Baker PlusNet's CEO I managed to get a Complaint's Advisor assigned but so far all I have been offered is to leave PlusNet penalty free, put up with the 29% drop in speed for the same cost, drop onto a 40/10 service while staying in contract then once the contract ends drop to their 40/2 service.

PlusNet have basically failed to get Openreach to correct the issues they have caused and now advise I will have to pay for a further Openreach visit if they fail to find the fault they caused in the first place. My upload and download are now less than the FTTC A Low Range, ping had almost doubled, attenuation has increased and power levels on the line have dropped!

AVOID PLUS(MINUS)NET LIKE THE PLAGUE. They don't care about you or the service they provide and their advertising is totally misleading.

PlusNet - We'll do you!

If Openreach can't get your speed back up there must be a reason what are Plusnet saying is the issue?

If you decide to move and there is a problem with the line then have a look at the ISP Andrews & Arnold Ltd.'s offer of We'll fix you line:-

http://s32.postimg.org/6wd9p1glh/A_A.png

http://aaisp.net/broadband-trial.html

I guess you could always phone them and discuss the problem and see what they think before commiting to move to them.

Edited by Apprentice (Mon 09-May-16 19:06:50)

I think it's as simple as the Openreach bodies I've had were, imho totally incompetent, two of them were telephone "engineers" and in one other case they didn't even have working test equipment.

PlusNet do not care at all, that much is obvious after some 13 weeks of this.

After the first failed visit half of my tone range vanished from the line in dslstats, the next two visits actually dropped my speed progressively to the level they are at today.

I was getting 49Mbps up until 11/04/16 today I'm getting 34.8Mbps and PlusNet expect me to pay for another Openreach visit if the cannot find a fault. In other words if Openreach are totally incompetent and cannot find the fault they caused for a 5th time the nit will cost me! Go figure!

Edited by deleted (Mon 09-May-16 19:26:42)

Having been with Plusnet since last November I wouldn't totally agree with you. I too raised a couple of fault tickets with Plusnet. Like you, my speed was dropping. I was kept informed throughout. However saying that, even though I had an engineer come visit first time round (couldn't find a fault). Before the 2nd visit was to take place, in the days leading up to it, I was running TBB speed tests. No sooner had the appointment been made and the speed mysteriously increased back to normal. It's been there ever since. No doubt goblins and elves at work. One thing I have got running is the BQM
Very handy to have too.

As the Apprentice says there must be reasons as to why your line speed is dropping. I certainly got lots of info from Plusnet as to what tests had been done and what the results of those tests were. My doubts about Openreach is round these parts they send 3rd party companies to do the faults. Having had one do the original connection, I can tell you I too wasn't impressed at all.

Good luck, maybe take up the offer although I suspect you'll end up paying slightly more (I could be wrong there though) than you pay Plusnet.

Yes there is, Openreach not doing their job correctly.

It has dropped on every visit they have made.

This is not just a fault this was actually Openreach's doing and now PlusNet are doing nothing to correct this and have even advised if another "Engineer" comes out and does not find a fault (which I doubt they will as they caused it in the first place and in a further 3 visits have actually made matters worse) then I will have to pay for the visit.

I wouldn't let the Openreach guys I've had so far cross the road unaided. That's not to say some out there are great at their job but so far I haven't had one.

The thing is I should not have to take up the "offer". They should, as my point of sale, ensure Openreach do their job correctly and give me back the speed they lost, all 13Mbps of it. They shouldn't just try to wash their hands of it of fob me off.

Trust me I've been around on the net long enough (actually some 25 years now) to know all about TBB, BQM etc. and use them all, that and I'm actually a Chartered Engineer myself.

Totally unbelievable and totally unacceptable.

In reply to a post by 69bertie:

Good luck, maybe take up the offer although I suspect you'll end up paying slightly more (I could be wrong there though) than you pay Plusnet.

I would be paying well over double with AAISP, even allowing for the inclusive line rental, as I would need their high-speed 1TB service to match what I am getting/using.

U cannot blame Plusnet as it wasn't their fault. It's look likely openreach are to blame.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

U cannot blame Plusnet

I wasn't blaming anybody!

In reply to a post by adslmax:

U cannot blame Plusnet as it wasn't their fault. It's look likely openreach are to blame.

But I can blame them as they initially did nothing until I contacted their CEO Andy Baker, now they are refusing to do any more which as my point of sale I'd expect them to get their supplier Openreach to fix the problem they caused on my (PlusNet's client) behalf.

This is as much Plusnet's problem and fault as it is Openreach's until it is fixed.

The problem is the way Openreach have themselves setup as untouchable gives both PlusNet and Openreach "reasons" for doing nothing, it's easy they just blame each other. As I can't contact Openreach my only point of contact is rightly my supplier PlusNet so it is, in the first instance, their fault.

Plusnet CEO has no direct control over Openreach.

BT Group CEO (Gavin Patterson) High Level Complaints Team is the one to email.

I appreciate that, however it is PlusNet who need to deal with Openreach as my contract is with PlusNet.
I have no contract at all with Openreach so they would be quite within their rights to not deal with me at all hence contacting Andy Baker.

I am saying that many times over the years, posters on these forums contacting Group High Level Complaints by emailing the Group CEO current at the time has proved to be the most effective path.

Ignore my suggestion if you wish, but you've already described how you are flogging a dead horse.

Thats why Plusnet are offering you an opt out of contract...

Plusnet are limited by what Openreach's feedback and decision is.... I too have had a similar issue recently, a problem caused by a source of noise and poor quality cabling... either way Openreach not willing to track noise or fix [censored] cabling so ony choice for me is put up with it...

As far as 'BT' my ISP where concerned they couldn't get anymore engineers out as I'd had 2 already and there was no faults on the Phone side of the service.... remeber Openreach are only liable to provide a working telephone service.

BT have since offered me a steep discount on my service due to the issues, currently your line may well be getting alot less speed than before due to the lack of G.INP on your line, this happened to me as engineers request line resets in order to test the service.

When a reset is done this removes G.INP and applies Interleaving which reduces speeds, once G.INP comes back on you should gain a substantial ammount of sync back.

I assume like me yor bound to a BT line with no option of any other infrastructure such as Virgin's cable network.

This is the way it is in this country with large providers, they get as many people signed up as they can, they do not care if their systems can not cope, as long as the money is coming in because they know that unless you go to one of the smaller providers which cost twice as much in most cases all the other large p;roviders are the same.

We have a private company as a monopoly providing the network, over old copper cables, yes I know we have FTTC, but the last part is still over old copper cables on technology which is already out of date anyway.
Welcome to the so called super fast broadband, BT should rename it to super fast broadband if you are lucky to be in the same street as the cabinet.

Don't forget the great customer service most of them provide, or the lack of it, that is if you can understand what the hell they are saying as they are stuck in some other country, with dodgy VOiP systems, reading from a script. Plusnet is slightly better than that, only slightly.

I was getting 49Mbps with no G.INP and with interleaving, I'm on an ECI cabinet so no G.INP here at present.

I'm now getting 34.8Mbps and this is nothing to do with line conditions degrading,additional people filling the cabinet up etc. it is quite simply Openreach's fault as the line rate has dropped substantially and has reported to them every time they have been involved and visited me.

It's not just sync sped either, it's the actual line rate that has dropped whilst being totally unstable, the attenuation has risen, the power levels on the line have dropped, errors have gone up 70x and SNR is not stable at all.

It is obvious to me that Openreach have changed something on my line as even the estimated line length has increased, granted this will be due to the increased attenuation.

Edited by deleted (Tue 10-May-16 10:31:51)

It's quite possible that they did a pair swap when trying to solve the original problem and that may have put you on a longer or lower quality pair. If there are no good pairs free then it may not be a simple fix and they may just announce it is an uneconomical repair.

It's not PN's fault. If you complain enough, BT will just drop their estimates as happened to me, due to a section of aluminium line.

Any other isp you shift to will give you the same speed.

That's what I like good old British fighting spirit

What is it with this country, why are people so resigned to just accepting poor quality and service?

It is PlusNet's fault, they are my supplier as per our contract, it is up to them to deal with Openreach as I have no contract with Openreach but PlusNet do.

I know they did do a pair swap on 21/04/16 when my line got far worse. Half of the useable tones on my line actually disappeared at this point.

This was not tested as his test equipment was faulty, the Openreach guy left saying he had another job to go to, try that and I'll be back a bit later. He called around an hour later and after I told him my speed had dropped by some 10Mbps he told me he wasn't coming back! I advised him I wanted him to change me back but he refused.

How's that for service.

Edited by deleted (Tue 10-May-16 12:31:20)

Your problem is with BT... Openreach in fact, your saying they messed up your line, however they're also telling Plusnet that they'll be charged for a visit and that your line is performing to 'Openreach's' standards and that must also mean speed is within range.

Complain to BT if your not happy with there work.

In reply to a post by Busa:

I know they did do a pair swap on 21/04/16 when my line got far worse. Half of the useable tones on my line actually disappeared at this point.

This was not tested as his test equipment was faulty, the Openreach guy left saying he had another job to go to, try that and I'll be back a bit later. He called around an hour later and after I told him my speed had dropped by some 10Mbps he told me he wasn't coming back! I advised him I wanted him to change me back but he refused.

How's that for service.

IIRC Plusnet always default to saying that you may be charged for an engineer visit , should the fault be your side of the NTE These previous engineer visits where they PTSN (voice engineers) or bb trained engineers ? And if the engineer who did the pair swap wasn't unable to do the close out tests PQT ect they should not of closed the job as fixed
It seems to me your hitting your head against a brick wall on this, If you are confident that there is a traceable bb fault or with the actual D side pair it's self then a broadband trained SFI with all the test equipment is what is needed. not a telephone engineer
So you could insist upon a fully trained bb engineer, if not they pay

It could be worse, you could of already paid for an engineer visit and still had the problem


Or save your self some stress and try AAISP or another isp

Edited by tommy45 (Tue 10-May-16 16:28:21)

No they actually said I'd be charged if Openreach failed to find a fault not the usual if the fault lies within my property after the master socket or with my equipment.

Quite a difference to the usual veiled threat.

Well as I've already pointed out it is not within the range of DSLChecker now due to the actions of previous Openreach visits.

Complaining to BT is like me complaining to you, we do not have a contract therefore why would you be bothered?

Trust me I wish I could but the simple fact is I can only complain to the company I'm in contract with as any other party, in this case Openreach, can quite rightly just tell me where to get off as I do not have a contract with them.

An agreement between you and BT was made as soon as you 1 connected to there network and also when you allowed an engineer access to your property...

\If you have a complaint about an engineer, which its sounds like you do then BT is who you 'can' contact... my only other suggestion is emailing Andy again and telling him thanks for assigning someone to the case but they're not doing what you expect of Plusnet...

Your lines estimates no longer mean anything by the sounds of things because Plusnet is allowing you out of contract... to me this sounds like Openreach have considered the fault an uneconomical fix and the line estimates may well reduce in time.

May I ask what Ranges A & B say for your line please.

In reply to a post by Busa:

Trust me I wish I could but the simple fact is I can only complain to the company I'm in contract with as any other party, in this case Openreach, can quite rightly just tell me where to get off as I do not have a contract with them.

I think you're right. In my experience of complaining to BT about various problems, if you complain enough - without getting upset - they eventually get the message and actually take action. It's as if they come to their senses especially if you tell them you're prepared to take it all the way to the top.

In reply to a post by Busa:

No they actually said I'd be charged if Openreach failed to find a fault not the usual if the fault lies within my property after the master socket or with my equipment.

Quite a difference to the usual veiled threat.

That's normally the stance with voice faults , if engineer visit results in right when tested result, Been there and had the t shirt on that myself ,got charged £130 but disputed the charge and it was removed by BT after contacting their HLC via their ceo

Are plusnet reporting it as a broadband fault or a voice fault to OR ? who do you pay line rental to?

Plusnet's contract with you does not state that they will offer you broadband at a particular minimum speed.

They have offered to let you out of contract.

They are not able to provide what you want, they have no other option.

It's not just what I want, it's what I actually had until Openreach screwed things up.

If my line estimates mean nothing then that again is down to the actions of Openreach.
An agreement is not the same as a contract.

The A & B Stats are as follows although it has been proven already my line is not impacted at all and I've got results of several GEA tests showing the decline in speed after every Openreach visit and confirming nothing impacting the line:

FTTC Range A (Clean) 49.9 35.5 11.6 7.5 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 38.2 21.3 9.2 4.6 -- Available

My line currently is below on both upload and download FTTC A low.

I did have a download of 49Mbps with an actual line rate of over 51Mbps until the 11/04/16 when I had my first failed visit.

Just had another reply form Andy Baker, he's got his people looking at this again for me and said he will respond within 24-48hrs.

Your not gonna want to here this but your line is performing within the correct ranges...

My line is consier Impacted yet it passes all GEA tests and engineer tests....

My line was also engineer installed.... I could go on but the fact is your not going to get much out of Plusnet, their hands are tied, your lines perfomring within the acceptable ranges for your connection... disregard the fact that you or anyone thinks your line is clean or impacted the range goes from top of range A to bottom of range B....

My estimates:

FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 67.6 20 20 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 71.7 40 20 9.3 -- Available

My line was running at 56mb when I had Interleaving on 'like you', G.INP brought it up to 69mb...

Do bare in mind I had 116mb sync in January this year, and due to crosstalk that dropped slowly until one afternoon when I lost 14Mb, it was due to a pair swap 'that I requested' that I got an extra 3mb back... or I would still be sitting here with 65/66mb.

So if I was you just chill out for a week or two, wait for G.INP to come back on after the reset and you'll probably see your speed back up in the 40-45mb before you know it.

But as I keep saying this is not degradation of the line due to crosstalk etc. this was caused by the ineptitude of Openreach.

I've been on the same Cabinet for 4 years or so and it is already full too, even if it wasn't I hardly think there was a sudden influx of new connections at exactly the same time on the same date as I had 3 failed Openreach visits that progressively lowered my line rate.

It cannot be considered impacted as it quite simply is not, therefore I expect it to perform within the boundary of the A range and I know it can actually perform above that, I have plenty of proof.

As also pointed out I do not have G.INP I'm on an ECI cabinet and the speeds I had where with Interleaving on the line.

As said Andy Baker has actually responded to me again, so let's see what happens.

Edited by deleted (Tue 10-May-16 20:23:20)

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Do bare in mind I had 116mb sync in January this year ....

Nope. You didn't.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 10-May-16 20:26:40)

I'm sorry but how would you know for sure this was BT's fault.....

All we have right now is your line being slower than it was before, this can be caused by a line reset removing G.INP which can remove a significan't ammount of speed on its own...

This would of been replaced with interleaving which 'has' increased your ing and lowered your speed even further....

the 2nd time BT visited they might of trigger the DLM to push more interleaving when the line was disconnected...

As far as crosstalk goes, its not the only speed killer, in my case a local noise source knocked 15mb off my connection aswell as the neighbours who's connections I've been able to look at.

So the chances are that your line may fix itself in time by getting G.INP reassigned to it, however at this moment the more messing with it thats done the worse if anything....

Theres a chance you've been moved to a not as good pair but to be honest not many pairs are any good these days.

I don't mean to sound [censored] to phone engineers here but there isn't that much to connecting a line up to the PCP and the master socket, there isn't anything in my oppion that an engineer can do wrong to cause such a problem with your Broadband.

Fact is right now your just below the estimates and that speeds going to increase, no doubt so just leave it alone.... no one can do anything now, its down to the computer in the DSLAM, knowboyd has any control over that.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Do bare in mind I had 116mb sync in January this year ....

Nope. You didn't.

OK, I had an attainble.... You knew what I meant, Thanks for your valued imput though... it was very helpful!

The speeds in your sig are misleading too

No need to be sarcastic. This is a technical forum and the technical words matter. Particular when you are purporting to give advice to somebody else.

Not everyone reading will know you did not have that sync.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

I'm sorry but how would you know for sure this was BT's fault.....

All we have right now is your line being slower than it was before, this can be caused by a line reset removing G.INP which can remove a significan't ammount of speed on its own...

This would of been replaced with interleaving which 'has' increased your ing and lowered your speed even further....

the 2nd time BT visited they might of trigger the DLM to push more interleaving when the line was disconnected...

As far as crosstalk goes, its not the only speed killer, in my case a local noise source knocked 15mb off my connection aswell as the neighbours who's connections I've been able to look at.

So the chances are that your line may fix itself in time by getting G.INP reassigned to it, however at this moment the more messing with it thats done the worse if anything....

Theres a chance you've been moved to a not as good pair but to be honest not many pairs are any good these days.

I don't mean to sound [censored] to phone engineers here but there isn't that much to connecting a line up to the PCP and the master socket, there isn't anything in my oppion that an engineer can do wrong to cause such a problem with your Broadband.

Fact is right now your just below the estimates and that speeds going to increase, no doubt so just leave it alone.... no one can do anything now, its down to the computer in the DSLAM, knowboyd has any control over that.

The OP is on a ECI cab and G.inp until very recently has not been available to any customers on ECI cabs, and it after a short time whilst rolling it out was removed
again, So it's doubtful G.inp is responsible

My guess is the OP also pays plusnet for line rental, and they have requested telephone engineers from OR in a bid to save money, and the first engineer would appear to have swapped the pair and was unable to test that pair Not good enough, if you have bb running on that pair IMO ,

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

The speeds in your sig are misleading too

Lucky I don't have to adhere to any regulation then isn't it.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

No need to be sarcastic. This is a technical forum and the technical words matter. Particular when you are purporting to give advice to somebody else.

Not everyone reading will know you did not have that sync.

Appologies but your comment wasn't very friendly either.

No doubt the OP is taking note of your attitude to others and to the accuracy of your statements.

well then I'm not quiet sure what to say then...

There's certainly a big problem somewhere, but again getting it dixed will be interesting...

Hopefull this gets sorted but other than that, Its still Openreach that have made the balls up not Plusnet,

However, it was accurate. What you posted to the OP wasn't.

lmao....

We meet again Batboy! Who you with these days buddy?

I'm not disputing that but it is PlusNet who are my point of contact and whether they like it or not it is them that need to sort this out for me with Openreach.

Still with BT, but with these prices rises I'll probably leave at the end of the contract

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

well then I'm not quiet sure what to say then...

There's certainly a big problem somewhere, but again getting it dixed will be interesting...

Hopefull this gets sorted but other than that, Its still Openreach that have made the balls up not Plusnet,

Yes and the OP's contract is with their isp It is they who are Openreach's customer , and it is down to the ISP to act on the customers behalf, and this includes where an engineer doesn't carry out a repair to whatever standard they are supposed to,

If Plusnet have requested non SFI engineer visits so far then they are to blame too, as PSTN engineers aren't best placed to deal with broadband faults, unless they are bb trained(some are ) and are carrying the relevant test equipment to enable them to trace faults in the copper pair

The trouble is that the Plusnet CEO is almost certainly junior to the CEO of Openreach in the BT Group hierarchy, simply because Openreach is far more important than Plusnet.

Plusnet is in fact a customer of Openreach with no more official power over OR than any other ISP. (Ofcom strict rules).

The only real clout available to you is the BT Group CEO, as I suggested earlier. I accept your statement it is Plusnet's problem to resolve it for you, and agree you should now wait to see if anything good comes of your latest reply from Andy Baker. But if that fails, the Group CEO's office is all you have available, and I suggest better tried before moving to another ISP. (Assuming AAISP is outside your price range).

The point of someone above the Openreach CEO getting involved is that engineers can be instructed to get it fixed. For instance, on a standard pair swap the time allowed for the job is fixed so any working pair might be chosen. I think it possible in a High Level Complaints case they may be given the instruction and time to check for the best available. On top of any deeper checks they may be able to carry out. I could of course be wrong there in the detail, but as I also said earlier this path has worked many times where all else failed.

I'm surprised you stuck it out with BT, well I can only assume you had a relatively pain free ride with them and didn't need to call India too many times.

New Openreach visit is now planned for tomorrow, just waiting for confirmation.

I have expressed that they ensure I get a properly trained broadband engineer, with the time and ability to diagnose and fix the issue, along with having working equipment!

I've also requested that they do not sent any of the ones I've had so far, hopefully just a run of bad experience that is not the norm but they were all useless and lacked any enthusiasm.

Anything I should else I should confirm?

In reply to a post by Busa:

Anything I should else I should confirm?

I have been following this thread with interest, having had a bad experience with another ISP. Plusnet have however given me excellent service and good support for several years (2008).

I am getting a sniff of a fall out between you and the BT Engineers, which considering what has happened is not in the least surprising, but maybe for this visit apart from a factual description of the history of the fault and the effect of the previous visits, it is time to wind up the diplomacy and offer a nice hot drink and a biscuit as soon as they arrive.

Good luck.

like me I have suffered the exact same issue with PN as like the OP said. I too have raised several complaints in various forms across all the forums and via the normal support comms channels etc. All on deaf ears it seem's..

The problems with the whole industry are systemic and Ofcom needs to separate or light a fire cracker under BT/OR butts in a big way (IMHO)

Now we see the "squeeze" and its really starting to rear its ugly little head.
How convenient is it my line speed are now sitting just on or a little above 52meg, which is just in time for the new infinity 1 speeds "update". coincidence? I think not!

Its all BS. and nothing we can really do unless there is a collective awakening to the many many different ways we get subtly screwed over in our daily lives by big business.

TY RobertoS

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Plusnet CEO has no direct control over Openreach.

BT Group CEO (Gavin Patterson) High Level Complaints Team is the one to email.

Look below at my sig.. it needs a update now I think lol..

I am actually a very good host, as a Project Manager I have to be!

In fact the amount of coffee I've fed them over the last 3 months may be the reason they do such a poor job i.e. they know if they have to come back they get good free coffee.

Having said that I'm dead against corporate corruption at any level.

We suggest people take the personal battles away from the forum or just stop them, or we might move people away ourselves.

Since they banned me from getting support through their forums, I only deal with them by phone using the Customer Options number which is UK based. It takes a while to get through the machinery but after that the support is fine. Not a patch on Sky Pro however

I'm surprised you stuck with them after that.

For what it's worth: I had a cocked up FTTC install done by Kelly's which had to be fixed by an Openreach engineer, afterwards I had a very reliable and fast connection. After about a year problems started dropouts, speed reductions etc. I had four different engineer visits, two visits were the same guy and on the last visit they went up the pole and switched my line to a spare one running to the cabinet.

Since then my connection has been excellent only dropping when I had to turn the power off (twice), current uptime is 75 days.

The older engineer said that the focus from Openreach is to deal with as many faults as possible in a day, meaning that they are unable to properly investigate faults. He also said they are hiring newer staff who are cheaper and less experienced and have been trained up in a culture where very little time is allocated per job.

When did you get banned? The moderators haven't banned anyone for quite a while. If you want to let me know what your community username was I can check.

In reply to a post by chrisparr:

When did you get banned? The moderators haven't banned anyone for quite a while. If you want to let me know what your community username was I can check.

It's the BT forum not PN's Community forum that the ban refers to.

Don't know if BatBoy ever had Plusnet as an ISP

Edited by Apprentice (Thu 12-May-16 18:37:20)

Thanks Chis, It's been at least a year, but unfortunately I'm talking about the BT Community forums not Plusnet.

I've tried raising the issue, I've tried signing up with different usernames, all have been banned, it's as if the moderator NeilO is carrying out a personal vendetta against me which is a bit odd given I'm a paying customer and he's in Customer Service, but meh.

I'm happy enough ringing on the personal helpline I have in the UK rather than dealing with the brick wall of India anyway.

Also got banned from BT Community forum for posting the full story of what happened with the customer service team. Apparently criticising BT only lands you in trouble.

OK well another Openreach visit today and they did manage to recover most of my speed back to a connection rate of 47.5Mbps back up from under 35Mbps.

Not all good though as some of this will be down to interleaving coming off with the DLM reset, it's still below the 51Mbps I had before the first Openreach visit on 12/04/16 and not 1/2 hour after the guy left my SNR instantly dropped (N.B. Not a decline but a sudden drop) from 6.2dB to 5.5dB along with a sudden drop of some 1Mbps on the max achievable line rate. The max attainable line rate is currently sat at some 1.6Mbps less than the actual line rate.

As expected errors are through the roof again so no doubt once DLM introduces interleaving again I'll drop further.

So to sum up some improvement, I believe they are sending another Engineer out to check for REIN along the route to my cabinet but will have to wait and see I guess.

The sad thing is why Plusnet and Openreach put me through this in the first place, it's fairly obvious now I was right not just to put up with it or leave as there is actually a problem that needs fixing.

Have you tried another modem or power brick? Could be noisy..

I've tried:

HH5A (Useless waste of plastic that they are)
ZyXel SBG3300-N great bit of kit
Netgear D7000 another great bit of kit bought to replace my SBG3300-N as it has 5Ghz wifi and the SBG doesn't
ECI Modem
Huawei Modem (Unlocked)

Best results are with the ZyXel and Netgear.

As I said I know it's not my equipment, this happened on every Openreach visit and was noted at the time.

Sorry,poor attention span
So which modem are you using currently?

Currently on the Netgear D7000

Ah thanks, misread the posts!

Hmmmm not all good today.

I'm now seeing sudden drops and increases in SNR of exactly 0.7dB every few hours. It drops 0.7dB stays that way for an hour of two then jumps back up 0.7dB and stays at the higher level for an hour of two, repeated all day until around 5pm when the SNR stays at the lower level then slowly drops as the evening comes in.

No idea what is causing these sudden changes in SNR/max attainable speed since yesterday though.

Anyone have any ideas?

The evening slow drop is normal - to do with the sun having set. It will rise with the sun in the morning.

A frequent 0.7dB drop/rise points to a single electrical or electronic device being switched on and off, either by a time-switch or a thermostat. The fact it stays down from 5pm'ish suggests central heating or even just the hot water tank, but it may well be nothing to do with the heating.

Yes I know the evening drop in normal due to atmospheric conditions, street lights, etc. This is happening at random times during the day so that pretty much rules out the above.

It's nothing in my home and it only started after the openreach visit yesterday.

Trust me I'm a Chartered Engineer, no central heating coming on or going off, nothing else on timers in the house, no dodgy light fittings, not even the bathroom fan. I've literally checked every electrical item right down to my motorcycle trickle charger!

OK well a week on and I'm still seeing random rises and drops in my SNR of exactly 0.7dB at all times of the day and night. My Max Attainable Speed rises and falls in line with the change in SNR.

To make matters worse my max attainable line rate is back up at 51Mbps but my actual line rate is now only 42Mbps and falling along with an average drop of 0.1 to 0.3dB per day still.

Openreach have opened a REIN case with them coming to visit this Friday, I did however speak with the guy who will be visiting on Monday and he is convinced, after some initial investigation that it's not REIN. TBH I'd be surprised if it was as I've been told my line was totally clear of REIN, RFI etc. in the very recent past.

Anyone have any ideas? It's definitely nothing in my house, that I know.

God knows what is going on but at least I have someone looking at possibilities now after rattling a few cages.

Well surprise surprise I had Openreach out again, not that they did much mind and apparently it's not REIN. Not that I ever thought it was as my real problems started with Openreach on 11/04/16, not that the Openreach bloke did much either other than suck on his E cigarette!

He told me he was going to follow the route back to the cabinet looking for REIN, he didn't bother, I quietly followed him and he just left!

Still no further forward and my SNR is slowly degrading each day with sudden 0.7dB changes in the downstream SNR at random intervals still.

In 2 days my downstream SNR fell from 6.2dB to 4.6dB, after a firmware update on my Netgear D7000 the SNR was back at 6.2 and then promptly fell again to 4.7dB over night. There is something going on with my connection and I have absolutely no faith at ain in Openreach rectifying the problems they caused in the first place. It does suddenly jump back up 0.7dB at random times but the overall trend is to lose SNR each day that is never recovered without a reboot of the D7000.

After almost 4 months I'm actually worse off than I was before Openreach got involved, they really are totally incompetent!

Know any amateur radio users? reason being, they might be able to confirm interference; the regular-as-clockwork drop and rise in signal would appear to be due to a timer-controlled device somewhere, and not necessarily near you - the range of some interference from baby monitors, burglar alarms, remote-controlled garage doors and the like can be considerable.

If you do know a friendly 'ham', and he can confirm interference, then you can contact OFCOM, who will send an engineer - to confirm - and try to work with the responsible party to remedy/alleviate the issue.

Just a thought.